It never cease to amaze me how great our health care system is in Canada. Minh Tran, a Vietnamese refugee from Thailand that resettled in Edmonton on November 28 along with his family had a heart attack yesterday night. Ambulance took him to Royal Alex hospital where he was treated with great care. Picture of his heart showed he had three arteries that were completely blocked. His heart was barely getting any oxygen. He will need an artery bypass surgery. Nurse gave him morphine to ease the pain. We left him to rest at about 3am, thinking well just be waiting to hear when hell be transferred to University of Alberta hospital for heart surgery the next day. In the midst of care for heart condition in cardiac unit, they discovered something in his abdominal x-ray after we left hospital. Received call from hospital at 5am to bring his wife back as he will need an emergency surgery. They can only see so much from x-ray, but from what they saw was very concerning. They suspected his intestine had ruptured. They needed to open him up to fully see what was going on and extent of damage. Surgical team was ready to operate as soon as consent was given. Surgeon told us, he is very sick, condition is very critical and there is a chance he might not make it out of surgery. His heart was too weak and may not survive it. He had the option to refuse surgery, but that may also kill him as well. Shortly after that, he was rolled into the operating room. His strength was evident through this whole ordeal. As he was rolled into operating room, he smiled at us despite the great amount of pain in was still in. General surgeon came out two hours later and said surgery went well. His stomach condition was not as bad as they had thought. What they found after opening him up was a large ulcer. They repaired it and closed him up. After surgery he was rolled into ICU, and that is where he still remains now. I ASK EVERYONE TO PRAY FOR HIM and HIS FAMILY. His journey to freedom has not been easy. After 25 years of being stateless, he is finally on Canadian soil, but to only face this now. Nonetheless, we are grateful that he is getting the best medical treatment possible, thanks to our phenomenal public heath care. If this had happened last month, when he was still in Thailand...his wife would be a widow and kids would be fatherless. Being an illegal, stateless person, he would have no access to medical treatment, and hospitalization would definitely be out of the question. The road ahead will come with many challenges, but well do our best to make it as comfortable as we can for him. We have a great support system in place. Hopefully, hell be well enough in a few weeks for bypass surgery. The staff at Royal Alex has been absolutely amazing, so kind and supportive. Our health care system, yet again, has left me in complete awe. And of course, many thanks to all that has kept anh Minh and his family in their prayers. Please continue to do so.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 05:41:00 +0000
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